


Inside Out

by WhenTheCanonShootsOnlyBlanks



Category: Inside Out (2015), Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Spoilers for Inside Out (2015)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 15:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4354802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenTheCanonShootsOnlyBlanks/pseuds/WhenTheCanonShootsOnlyBlanks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Leslie watch Inside Out together and start comparing its characters to themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inside Out

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fluffy one-shot that only exists because I watched Inside Out yesterday while I was in the middle of a Park and Rec. rewatch. And since Amy Poehler does Joy's voice, this was born.
> 
> Enjoy!

Leslie walked through her front door and haphazardly threw her keys into the bowl Ben had placed there exactly for that purpose.

Her meeting had run late, making her miss diner with Ben and the kids.

She kicked off her heels. Normally, as soon as she walked through the door, at least one of her children would come running to hug her and tell her about their day. But no one came.

Frowning, she checked her watch, it was a little after seven. Surely the kids would still be awake, so why didn’t she hear them running around and laughing?

Having three six-year-olds was a lot of fun, but they were so loud! She found the quiet a bit unsettling.

‘Ben?’ She called out, a little concerned by the lack of noise.

‘In here.’ She heard her husband call out from the living room.

She released a breath she didn’t known she’d been holding. Ben was at home, he sounded alright, so surely nothing too bad could have happened.

She rounded the corner, finding her husband sitting alone on the couch, seemingly engrossed in a movie.

She kissed him softly on the mouth and sat down next to him, shooting a quick glance towards the television. To her great surprise he was watching an animation movie and not one of his endless sci-fi shows.

‘Where are the kids?’ She asked, a little confused by Ben watching a children’s movie without their children.

‘Andy came by after dinner to take them out for ice cream.’ He said, not once taking his eyes of the colourful characters jumping across the screen.

‘That’s nice of him.’ She said, still trying to figure out what was going on.

‘I expect he just needed an excuse to eat ice cream and if he takes the kids he gets to finish theirs too.’ He was still looking at the screen, Leslie frowned at him but he didn’t notice.

‘Sounds about right. So, if the kids are gone, why are you still watching this movie?’

‘We had just put it in when Andy rang the doorbell, so I had to get up and open it and after I got all the kids in their coats and returned to the couch it was still playing.’

‘And the reason you didn’t stop it and watch something else is…?’ She trailed off, still incredibly confused by Ben watching a children’s movie. He had been whining all week about never being able to catch up on Game of Thrones, even if he had repeatedly stated that the show had gone way downhill since season 5.

‘I was going to.’ He offered ‘But I couldn’t find the remote right away, so I watched a scene and it actually sounded really interesting. So when I finally found the remote, I wanted to know what would happen.’

‘Really? The great Ben Wyatt is interested in a children’s movie, what would the message boards say?’ She joked.

‘You can laugh,’ Ben said, ‘but it is really good, just watch it with me.’ He smiled, pulling her closer to him. ‘Here, I’ll rewind it. I hadn’t gotten that far anyway.’ He grabbed the remote from the coffee table.

‘Do we have too?’ Leslie whined. ‘We watched a children’s movie yesterday. And the day before that, and the day before that. We have triplets Ben, we are always watching children’s movies. I can think of a better to spend a childless evening.’ She said, tracing her finger up and down his chest. Hoping that Ben would take the hint.

He didn’t, he just grabbed her hand with his and held it in his lap. Looking over at her, he smiled a secretive smile and said:

‘Just watch it. You’ll like it.’

‘Fine.’ Leslie grumbled. ‘What is it about anyway?’

‘You’ll see.’ Ben said, pressing the play button on the remote and starting the movie.

‘Will you at least tell me what it is called?’ She pouted while watching a volcano sing on screen.

‘Inside Out. Now shush, this song is amazing.’

Leslie rolled her eyes at him, but returned her attention to the TV anyway.

About five minutes in, she noticed Ben sneaking glances at her.

‘What?’ She asked ‘Do I have something on my face?’

‘No,’ He smiled ‘but don’t the emotions remind you of someone?’ His smile had gotten bigger. ‘Anyone you know perhaps?’ Now he was just gloating, Leslie looked at him in confusion.

‘No? Should they?’

‘You’ll see.’ Ben said gleefully, focusing his attention back on the TV.

A couple scenes later she finally got what Ben meant.

‘Oh god, that’s me. I’m Joy.’ She looked over at Ben, who nodded happily.

‘See?’ Told you the movie was interesting. I kept watching because Joy reminded me of you, with her constant positive attitude and problem solving skills.’

She smiled, she could see herself in Joy, but that was not the only resemblance she saw.

‘If I am like Joy,’ she said, ‘you are like Fear.’

‘Hey!’ Ben said indignantly ‘I am not afraid of anything!’

‘No, you aren’t, but you are always trying to keep us safe and make lists of everything that could go wrong. You are a bit of a buzzkill sometimes. And you are totally afraid of spiders.’ She said, the last part whispered under her breath so that Ben wouldn’t hear.

‘Hmm,’ He seemed to think it over. ‘Fine, you are Joy and I’m Fear. Great combo don’t you think?’ He buried his nose in her blonde curls, making her giggle.

‘The best team.’ She laughed kissing him on his cheek.

They returned to watching the movie cuddled on the couch together.

‘You know what?’ Leslie said a little later. ‘Ron would totally be Anger and Tom can be Disgust.’

Ben tilted his head, thinking it over. ‘That sounds accurate, so who would be Sadness?’ As soon as he said it, he knew.

‘Jerry.’ They said in unison, laughing about their group of friends and their fictional counterparts.

‘Wait what is happening right now?’ Leslie asked when her attention returned to the movie. ‘Why are the happy memories turning sad? No! Sadness what are you doing? This is so Jerry. Leave those memories alone! You are making Riley sad! Joy can fix that right?’ She turned towards Ben, who was having a hard time keeping his face from giving anything away.

‘Just watch.’ He said eventually, knowing that that wouldn’t satisfy Leslie at all, but hoping that the movie would provide enough distraction.

Luckily it did.

‘No! A sad core memory? That is not good.’ Leslie said.

And a second later;

‘No no no. How can Riley be happy without Joy?! Or her core memories? Sadness messes everything up. Just like Jerry.’

As the movies progressed passed the point of his first time watching, Ben started to join Leslie in yelling things at the TV.

‘Please don’t fall into the pit. Please don’t fall into the pit.’ He whispered when Joy was trying to cross the tiny bridge across the giant chasm on her way back towards headquarters.

The longer they watched the more invested they became. Things kept going wrong and they became more and more emotional. And when Bing Bong sacrificed himself to help Joy, both of them had tears streaming down their faces. Leslie buried her face into Ben’s chest, staining his shirt with her tears.

‘That was so sweet.’ She sniffled. ‘But so sad!’ And Ben whole heartedly agreed with her. Glad that April wasn’t here to force him to wear mascara so she could see how much he actually cried.

And somehow it got even worse from there on. The tears just kept coming, each moment more emotional than the last.

The ending had them smiling through their tears.

‘That was so beautiful.’ Leslie managed to say between sobs.

Ben too, had tears streaming down his face. ‘I told you this was a good movie.’ He said, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat.

When the credits rolled Leslie was smiling weakly at him. ‘That was beautiful, I am not even mad that you convinced me to watch this. But how is this a movie for children? It was almost as sad as Up! And I still get tears in my eyes when I think of that movie!’

‘I know right? Children’s movies are getting really advanced.’

They sat on the couch for a while, Leslie with her head on Ben’s shoulder and Ben with his arms around her, keeping her close.

‘The cool girl sounded a bit like Ann, don’t you think?’ She said when the credits ended.

‘Yeah, now you mention it. I can’t stop thinking what my islands would look like.’

‘Me neither, you would definitely have a nerd island though.’ She said teasingly.

‘Probably, you would have a waffle island and a government island.’

‘And a Ben’s butt island.’ She added while pinching the object in question.

Ben reached over to kiss her, but before they could go any further the triplets (and Andy) burst through the back door, all of them (also Andy) covered in ice cream.

They both jumped up, grabbing them (not Andy) around their waists and hauling them off to the kitchen before they got chocolate on the couch and Leslie’s white blouse.

When they were all cleaned up (even Andy, Ben had given him a wet paper towel) they said good night to Andy and went upstairs to brush their teeth on Leslie’s orders.

She had to bribe them with a double story, as they were all hyped up on sugar and Uncle Andy’s own hyperactive energy.

Before she disappeared upstairs however, she pulled Ben over to kiss him.

‘Hide that movie.’ She said ‘I can’t watch that one again for at least a month.’

‘Aye aye, captain Joy.’

Leslie turned and stared at him with a raised eyebrow before slowly shaking her head and walking up the stairs. When she was about three steps up, she turned.

‘You know, I had an imaginary friend when I was younger. He was part dog and part waffle.’ And in a creepy voice she added. ‘And he is right behind you.’

She heard Ben yelp and muttered to herself: ‘Not Fear my ass.’

 

 

 

 


End file.
